Redemption
by Foltro
Summary: An old friend of Eliot appears with a tragic story and the team decides to help him out. And sometimes it takes a friend to get hurt to realize your feelings for the people you are around.
1. Chapter 1

Hey folks! To be honest, this is the first time I ever dabbled in the arts of writing. Had the idea in my head for quit some time, though. Moreover, the english language is not my native language, so be gentle ;) Any grammar mistakes were not intended but they do get past my defences from time to time.

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Leverage, it's characters or anything else related to it. I do own the character I made up: Sean Murphy_**. **_Any paralles to real existing people or events were not intended and are merely coincidence.

_**Redemption**_

_**„For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."**_

_**- Hosea 8:7**_

They called him „Vortex".

He never liked that name, in fact Sean Murphy was anything but a vortex right now. It would be more fitting if they called him wreckage for he felt like one.

When you take a man's family away, all there is left is a shade, filled with grief and despair. That actually fit to Sean but instead of giving into his grief, anger and hatred had taken foot within him.

Right now, former Sgt. Sean Murphy stood on a roof overlooking the Boston skyline trying to find his peace. The wind blew through his curly hair and he felt somewhat lighter as if the wind hand taken away some of his pain. But he knew it was not like that.

Five years ago Sean Murphy lived a happy and peaceful life with his wife Shannon and his daughter Lisa on the outskirts of Boston working at a motorcycle repair shop for he loved riding those machines since his dad took him out on his. Pacing through the air without the restrictions of a car was always getting him smile all over his face.

But one tragic moment should shatter his life in its very essence.

Shannon was diagnosed brestcancer and not long after that she died. Still his heart ached when he thought about her death and tears began to run slowly down his cheeks.

With her mother gone for ever, Lisa, who was born with asthma, constantly got sicker and more often had terrible nightmares.

A new medicament came to the market which was praised to was able to get asthma almost out of a patient's life. Normally Sean Murphy would not get his hands on such said-to-be miracles but with his wife gone and Lisa constantly getting worse it was hardly normal at all to him, so he gave it a try.

One night when Sean went into his daughter's room to see if she was sleeping well he noticed her being unusually still, for she always had quite vivid dreams. So he stepped closer to see how she was doing and when he sat down on the bed it struck him like a bullet:

She was not breathing!

He hurled around looking for her inhaler desperately while praying to all the saints known to him, that it was not to late. After what seemed an eternity to him he found the small gadget on the floor, picking it up and putting it into his daughter's mouth holding her close while pure fear settled on his face, practically begging her to breath again. But all praying and hoping was in vain, little Lisa, not even ten years old, passed away in her father's arms.

When he realized she was not waking up any more he fell into a massive stupor, holding his daughter's body through the entire night while silent tears streamed down his face.

Sean buried Lisa next to her mother and came down to the graveyard once a week to take care of their graves and to talk to his family, he knew he actually talked to himself, but it gave him some peace of mind.

Not long after Lisa's funeral he noticed an increased amount of asthma related deaths in his neighborhood, all of them using the same medicine as his daughter had. With anger rising within in him he called a few friends he made while he was a soldier and found out that said medicine had side-effects not mentioned by the company that sold it. Barn Pharmaceutics did not make them public.

You did not need to be a rocket scientist to notice what was going on: Greg Fuller, CEO of Barn Pharmaceutics, thought it was better to let people die and pay the fees when the company was sewed than to recall the product.

Even the simple mentioning of that name in his mind got Sean filled with so much hatred and contempt that he hit a nearby drip rail leaving a dent in its shape.

That was the point when Sean Murphy turned back into the man he was before he met Shannon. He always had been easily angered and his mood could change within a second from being kind and friendly into being as angry as a cornered grizzly. And that was why his fellow soldiers always called him „Vortex", for his quick changing of moods and his rather intimidating force when he was angered.

Thinking again about his little girl died because of one man's greed, it got him so furious that he hammered his fist into the drip rail again causing it to break where he hit it, but he was just to angry right now to care about that. So he took a deep breath and let the cold wind blow through his head once more, taking the hate away, at least for now.

When he made his way down from the roof onto the street it was already getting darker, he stayed half the day up that roof thinking he suddenly realized. He decided to go home to take a shower and eat something and then head to McRory's. He always liked being around there, he knew most of the people and the atmosphere in there was able to sooth his raging mind.

When he walked through the door and pulled of his jacket the bartender threw a hearty „Hello there Mr. Murphy! What can I do for you tonight?" at him. Trying to smile Sean murmured „Irish whiskey, please".

„Right away, sir!" the young man said.

Taking his seat at the bar he looked around the bar taking a sip of his whiskey from time to time. Scanning a place for exits, entrances and possible cover was an old habit he never really got rid off after his time in Croatia during the war.

Dammit, there the horrors were again. Sean never really got over the sight of a huge mass tomb his unit found just south of Zagreb, there where about 2.000 bodies in there and all of them hat to be cataloged.

When he saw what they had found he froze immediately unable to take his eyes off that witness of human cruelty.

He was pulled away from the disturbing sight by a young man he always had considered being a hothead, but there he was shown he was totally wrong about that.

Said man showed maturity you would not think he actually had for he was just in the early twenties, which earned him Sean's total respect and gratitude for pulling him away from that abomination of a grave.

While he looked around the bar, one person caught his attention and suddenly he felt the huge need to get as far away from the bar as he could. The man had long brown hair and was sitting at a table just across the room talking to a group of other people, two women one young and blonde the other more mature and of darker hair, a black young man and a man probably about forty years old.

As intense as his instinct to run was, he stayed regarding the long haired man, there was something about the way he moved that triggered something deeply buried in Sean's mind.

_No way, that just **can't** be him, _Sean thought to himself, but everything he saw was evidence to the contrary.

_The world is a very small place indeed_ Sean said in his head not knowing whether he should be happy or sad.

As if the man had heard Sean's thoughts the man got up and walked towards the bar throwing a gaze at Sean sitting at the other side of the room now looking into his glass of whiskey. Hesitating at first the man blinked a couple of times before his facial features told anyone that he'd just seen a ghost.

Eliot was hit with the force of a running train at the sight of that man at the bar.

Of all places in the world his Sergeant during his time in Croatia chose McRory's to have a drink this evening.

Images of a mass tomb and the sergeant frozen by the sight of it flickered in his head. He lost contact to him after he left the army to just to end up as a retrieval specialist.

Collecting his thoughts and trying tho shake of that mix of feeling in shock and relief to see Sean Murphy was still alive though he looked like a walking dead, he went over to him taking a seat next so Sean. „Long time no see, serge" Eliot thought this would be the best way to start this rather strange reunion. „Do not call me that Eliot, for you know I am not a soldier anymore. It's just Sean now."

„Sorry ser..Sean" Eliot corrected himself „What brings a man like you to this place?"

„Needed to clear my head." Sean responded, more whispering than speaking.

„So hows your family doin', ol' man" Eliot joked trying to break the ice and immediately regretted it as Sean's features hardened and his grip around his glass tightened threatening the glass to burst. A single tear went down Sean's face.

„None of your damn business!" Sean growled, staring at him with his hawk-like eyes. A second later Sean's rage turned into grief as his eyes filled with water and his mouth and chin were shivering. „Sorry, shouldn't have been angry on you son" Sean almost whispered „'s just that I've been a little on edge the last weeks."

„What happened?" Eliot asked for he never saw his former Sergeant that broken and lost.

„Don't wanna talk 'bout it, OK son?" Sean answered „Well, at least not around these strangers in here."

„My teammates and I got a flat upstairs, do you wanna come up and talk about it there?" Eliot said, trying not to further upset the other man. „Teammates?" Sean raised an eyebrow „thought you preferred to work alone after Croatia?".

„Well things change, ...serge" Eliot added and Sean could not help but to smile a bit, the first time he had in weeks.

„Okay show me that flat o' yours than" Sean mentioned with confusion on his face „but what about your teammates, I believe they would wonder why Eliot Spencer walks upstairs to his team's flat with a stranger to them? That blonde girl over there seems quite perceptive to me, she looked several times in your direction now. She's a mate o' yours?"

„What blonde girl do you mea...oh yeah, that's Parker" Eliot responded and Sean did not miss the way Eliot's face lightened up for only a second when he mentioned her name „yeah I bet that they would wanna know where the hell I'm goin'. Want me to introduce you?" Eliot questioned further.

„Sure, why not? There must be something very special to them if someone like you decides to join a team".

As the two men walked over the table where Nate, Hardison, Parker and Sophie were in the middle of a talk, Eliot was not able to get the picture of Sean growling and staring at him like he was about to kill him out of his mind, something _**really **_horrible must have happened if the usually very calm sergeant gave into rage that quickly.

„Ahem...excuse me guys" Eliot started „I'd like to introduce to you Mr. Sean Murphy, former army sergeant and an ol' friend of mine, went through hell together in Croatia. Sean, these people are Parker, Nate, Sophie and Hardison" he explained.

„Nice to meet you" Sean murmured silently, shaking everyone's hands.

„He and I were just 'bout goin' up to talk over some things and Sean here mentioned that you would wonder where I was goin' with a stranger" Eliot explained „ so I thought I'd introduce him, knowing that your curiosity would getter the better of you all and you'd follow us anyway, so why don't y'all come along right now?"

As they all agreed, the Leverage team and went up to their rooms, not prepared at all for what they were about to hear.

* * *

There was silence between the six people standing in the Leverage flat. Each of the team reacted differently to the story Sean Murphy just told them.

Eliot's face got paler every minute and his eyes watered while he clenched his fists so strong that he thought they cramped. It just was not right that Sean lost everything he treasured in life within a couple of years, but even worse was the fact that his daughter Lisa had to die. **A child**! Not even ten years of age. It was then that Eliot decided to take that SOB Greg Fuller down, no matter the cost.

Parker sat on the sofa eating her favorite cereal but as Sean told his story she dropped her bowl at one point and stared right into that man's face trying to memorize every word he said. She never saw a man sob that often while telling his story and she wondered if you could dehydrate from simple crying, because there were rivers of tears streaming down Sean's face.

Hardison stood in shock. He never heard a story that sad. Unable to hold the tears gathering in his eyes he let himself drop on a seat nearby an stared into space. A few moments later he caught himself again, glancing shortly at his laptop, determined to dig up everything that bastard Fuller wanted to keep secret.

Sophie turned around to Nate burying her head in his chest crying her heart out for she never witnessed such an amount of pain in a man. Nate's mind however, went 10 years back to the day he stood in front of the door leading into his sons room at the hospital, praying that he would make it and remembered how he felt the day his son died, he was in fact the only one who could anticipate what Sean went through these last years.

Sean just broke down onto a chair when he finished his "tale", feeling both somewhat relieved a bit for telling others about his grief and yet guilty to have burdened the team's minds with his pain. When he sat down on his chair his eyes closed and he fell asleep, completely drained.

When he woke up, he noticed that he was laying in a bed, which puzzled him at first but then he figured that the others must have taken him here. He got up and remembered the way Nathan Ford looked when he heard about Sean's daughter. Sean could almost tell for certain that Nate must have also suffered the loss of a child, at some point he looked just as broken as Sean felt.

He decided to take a shower to clear his head before heading down to the living room. He actually heard voices down there but could not really make out what they were talking about. _Never mind_, he thought, _I will get to know for certain when I'm down there_.

"There **has **to be a way to bring that man down!" Hardison almost yelled as Sean walked down the stairs.

"I don't see any possibilities apart from killing him!" Eliot growled back. "So why can't we just do that and kill him?" Parker asked sitting on the table hugging her knees.

"Cause that would turn you all into murderers and an investigation would follow, and I'm sure my daughter did not want her daddy to kill someone." Sean answered., while all three of them turned their heads to look at him.

"Good point" Parker simply said, looking a little disappointed.

"So how are you feelin' after your sleep?" Eliot asked though he knew the answer to that question already.

"Why are you discussing how to take him down at all?" Sean responded ignoring Eliot's initial request.

"We help people" came Parker's instant answer.

"Uh-huh. Tried to check his financials to see on what he spends most of his money?"

"He seems quite taken with sculptures. He paid 500.000$ last week for a sculpture made by Michelangelo" Hardison mentioned.

"Than that's our way in" Nate said who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere followed by Sophie.

"I doubt any of you is a worldwide known sculptor in his or her free time?" Sean asked raising an eyebrow.

"No but we just have to make up a background for Eliot, which sais that he is one of the best sculptors in Europe, but has yet to make a name. Fuller will not have any other choice but to make a deal with him as greedy as he is" Nate explained.

"Followed you so far but where do you get a statue for Fuller to buy?" Sean asked. After he said that he noticed Parker grinning all over her face with a certain glint in her eyes. He had last seen something similar when Eliot talked about his girlfriend Aimee back when they were in Croatia. He wondered if they still were together but he doubted that as he remembered Eliot's face when he first mentioned Parker's name to him earlier. He couldn't help but think that they would make a nice couple. He had to ask Eliot about Parker later.

"What's she smiling about?" Sean questioned.

"Let's go steal ouselves a masterpiece" Nate said as he left the room as quickly as he entered it.

Noticing the confused look on Sean's face, Parker moved towards him. "We are thieves" she said bluntly "we steal things."

"I don't think you need to explain what a thief does to him Parker, I think he knows that".

"But he looked so puzzled I just wanted to help him understand!".

Sean almost chuckled over the young blonde's honesty and innocence and he sure had laughed about that would it not have reminded him of his late daughter.

"There's somethin' wrong with you" Eliot said and Parker went away, looking very annoyed. She just wanted to help!

"I guess she gets to hear that a lot" Sean mentioned on Parker's departure. "You have no idea man." There was that certain spark in his eyes again that gave him away. You would not have noticed this action of his if you didn't know Eliot Spencer the way Sean did.

"You like her very much, don't you?" Sean whispered but it was loud enough for Eliot to hear. He had to fight the urge to knock Sean out for saying what he did not want to admit. But Eliot knew that Sean was a very capable fighter himself. He looked into Sean's eyes and said "No man, she's just twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag".

"Come on son, you don't honestly think you can fool me. I saw that spark in your eyes when you mentioned her name to me earlier and when you told her that there was somethin wrong with her. I know that's your way of telling her that she means something to you son."

Now it was Eliot's turn to get angry at his former sergeant "No. And that's all I'm gonna say 'bout that topic" he growled.

"Shielding yourself from feelings doesn't help a thing. I imagine you do this to protect yourself from getting hurt again. But think about it: admitting your feelings is what makes us human, blocking them is just gonna hurt you even worse".

Eliot was always surprised that Sean could look through him like nobody else. He was like an open book to him and he didn't like being exposed. Never did.

"I think you should try to explain yourself to her, unspoken feelings often hurt way worse" Sean added. "Now you're lecturin' me again serge. I'm not a small boy any more. Besides, you don't know what she's like."

"Have it your way, I'm just sayin" Sean said raising his hands to show he surrendered. But he was certain that he got Eliot starting to think about that matter which was good enough for him. He was no panderer after all, just wanted the young man to be happy, for he knew he didn't have many happy moments in life.

And something about Parker's behavior triggered the alarm systems in his head, somehow he felt she didn't have a cheerful life either.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey there again! So here is the scond part of my story. _**

**_I still do not own any content related to Leverage. Well, apart from the character I made up in my mind._**

**_Special thanks go to Katiemac1992 for betaing my humble work._**

**_Enjoy!_**

It all went way too smoothly.

Eliot couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking straight into a trap. Fuller was hooked without any problems. The sculpture that served as bait was stolen with ease and now Eliot was supposed to meet Fuller tomorrow to talk business with Sophie, who played his agent; while Parker was to infiltrate Fuller's office in order to get documents saying he (Fuller) knew about the side effects his medicament had.

Eliot had a very bad feeling about this...

Sean was angry as hell. Nate cut him out of the job.

"Your personal feelings will interfere with the job. Sorry buddy." he told him.

It took every bit of his self-control to not snap Nate's neck. Instead he moved close, to look Nate straight in the eyes.

"You better be hoping your plan works out. My only child got killed because of that man, understand? 'Cause if not I will make you pay." He growled.

Sean pushed Nate against the wall before he walked out the door silently taking one of the team's coms- just in case.

Nate stood paralyzed, unable to move and breathing heavily. It was no lie to say he was scared to death. He had never had someone threaten him the way Sean had. He sighed and went to take a very cold shower.

"Eliot, Parker get the hell outta' there! We're blown!"

Hardison screamed through the coms.

"I told you it went too well. But I'm just the dumb muscle so what's the use of listening to me? Dammit Hardison!" Eliot growled.

"Parker, where are you?" Nothing came back. "Parker?"

"Hardison, tell me where she is!" Eliot ordered the hacker.

"Her signal's coming from near Fuller's office. She's not moving. That means…" Hardison trailed.

"She got caught!" Eliot completed for Hardison; His heart skipping a beat.

Parker felt guilty. She had gotten caught and was sure she had screwed up the con. She felt guilty for Sean's girl because they were not able to bring Fuller to justice. She knew that Eliot would probably be pissed when he found out that she had gotten sloppy this time; though she was pretty sure she was very cautious. Now she was tied to a chair surrounded by two men she could tell were up to no good.

She had shut her com off when she was trying to crack Fuller's safe and then suddenly these two men appeared out of nowhere grabbing her and tying her to the chair. They didn't ask any questions so Parker figured they were waiting for their boss.

As Eliot made his way up to the room where Parker was being kept he became more and more angry with Nate for taking Sean out of the job. The sergeant was trained in observing people and places and would have been of great help in finding a subtle way in and out of the building.

'Wish you were here serge, could really use your help' he murmured to himself.

His thoughts returned to Parker again and his stomach stirred and he thought he'd throw up. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her. Sure, he was the team's protector but when it came to the blonde thief he always put aside his personal safety. And suddenly he understood what Sean had said about unspoken feelings often hurting way worse. _If she got killed without him ever telling her what she means to him …_ The mere thought making him sick and even more determined to get her out that building safe! That was the last thing that went through his head before his vision went dark.

Little did they all know, Sean had listened in on their conversation and when he heard Eliot wishing for his help, he decided to step in. He owed Eliot for pulling him from that tomb; back in Croatia. So he got on his motorcycle racing to Barn Pharmaceutics', hoping it was not too late, and silently wished to run into Greg Fuller.

Eliot expected to wake up dead, but instead he was tied to a chair next to a blonde woman. Immediately he realized he had been overwhelmed and was now being kept in the same room as Parker. _Dammit._

"Hardison, give me a status report. NOW!" Sean growled through the coms. "Where are Parker and Eliot?"

"How did you..?" Eliot asked confused.

"Not now son, I'm tryin' to save your butts!" Sean exclaimed; dismissing Eliot's confusion. "Hardison, where are they?" He demanded sounding very harsh.

"I told you to stay off the job." Nate interrupted, "you are not thinking straight."

"Say that again when I'm back with your hitter and thief and I'll show you exactly how straight I'm thinkin'!" Sean yelled.

"I'm still waitin' Hardison. Where the hell are they?" He demanded shifting his attention to the hacker.

"In a side-room not far away from Fuller's office." the hacker whispered.

"On my way!" Sean said.

As he made his way through the building he noticed it was strangely short of people. It was a normal working day and Barn Pharmaceutics' was quite a big company. His senses sharpened, expecting a foe behind each corner. But there were none, so he decided to take the direct route to the room his friends were being held in. _Friends? Where did that come from?_ He would work that out later, now Eliot and Parker mattered more.

He found a ventilation shaft that had the right size for him and moved through it trying to be as silent as he could knowing that, if spotted, he was dead; and he was not about to let Eliot down!

He reached a grid through which he could see two people tied to a chair. He found them, so far so good, but getting them out was far more difficult.

"Hardison, can you tell me how many guards there are near that room?" he demanded.

"Only a few. I've detected two phone signals in the room but I'm not sure about the other floors." Hardison responded, his entire body filled with adrenaline.

"Okay, I can handle those. Once Eliot and Parker are free I can distract the other guards and take the heat so Eliot and Parker can get out in one piece."

"That will get you killed man!" Hardison interjected. "Not an option! Stick together. No sense in getting yourself killed!" he went on.

"Hardison's right Sean, stay together. It increases your chances to get out of there." Nate added.

"I disagree. I did not encounter a single guard on my way here. Somethin's not right. But let's get that rescuin' done. They're not gonna free themselves." He said letting himself drop through the grid into the room, taking a roll over his shoulder as he reached the ground.

He got straight up to his feet, whirling around and hurling a punch to one man's throat causing the man to breakdown choking. Without looking, he took a half spin, kicking the other man's knee and with the sound of a cracked nut it broke. The man lost consciousness; obviously it was too much pain for him.

He turned around to face Eliot and Parker staring at him in disbelief. Ignoring it, he cut them free.

"That was quite impressive serge. Didn't know you could be that fast." Eliot said as he rubbed his wrists, thankful for the blood that coursed through them again.

"You actually hurt them very bad. Good." Parker added smirking.

"You're capable of a lot of things when your friends are in danger." Sean answered. "But we should get goin'. I head out first- see what kinda distraction I can create. You two- wait for 20 secs- then head straight out. You got that?" He sounded almost cold.

"Got it!" the other two agreed simultaneously as Sean went out the door.

Eliot and Parker got to the exit without much problem. Whatever Sean was doing to keep the security busy, he did it very well.

"Okay son. I should reach the exit any moment now but a lot of guys are after me; probably ex-marines I'd say, by the way they run." Sean informed, gasping for air.

"You can tell what a man is by the way he runs?" Hardison asked shaking his head.

"It's a very distinctive movement." Sean and Eliot answered.

Parker grinned. "So that's where you got that from, Eliot."

Before Parker could say anything more Eliot put himself between Parker and what he figured to be the shape of a gun.

The shot went off and for a few seconds the entire surroundings were completely silent.

Eliot blinked as he felt no pain turning around, he was afraid Parker was hit, but she was not. As he turned around again he saw Sean stumbling and holding his left shoulder. Blood was oozing from the wound as he tried to close it off with his hand. But what surprised Eliot more was the fact that Sean had not went down even after he got shot again.

An almost unbearable pain went through Sean's entire body. He had been shot before yet it never was the same. When he had rounded the corner to the exit he had noticed one guard pulling out his gun, pointing it in Eliot's and Parker's direction. His instincts put himself in the bullet's way.

He was pale and breathing heavily now but he would not give these bastards the satisfaction of going down. As he realized what specific building he was in, burning fury arose in him, erasing the pain. These guys worked for his daughter's murderer and tried to kill his friends. That was too much for his calm side to take.

The demon in him was unleashed.

Eliot and Parker ran out of the building- as Sean had ordered them- and as Parker hopped into their van Eliot turned around. He could not believe what he saw. Sean was fighting 14 armed guards with two gunshot wounds; but something was different. The sergeant fought with pure rage, trying to inflict as much damage as possible. He always thought the sergeant's nickname to be a joke, but now he understood why he was called 'Vortex.' He was a storm of destruction raging between the guards in the building.

When Sean regained consciousness he was standing over a dozen guards on the floor. They had broken jaws, ribs, knees and any limb you could think of was at least heavily damaged- if not broken. Sean tipped on his wounded and bleeding shoulder and was sure he was still alive when a spike of pain moved through him. Good.

When the adrenaline wore off he broke down to the floor slipping away into darkness.

Parker sat on her favorite sofa and couldn't get the day's events off her mind. She felt guilty again. She assumed she had blown the job and because of that, Eliot had gotten captured trying to free her and Sean was shot multiple times defending both Eliot and herself.

She expected Eliot to wake up from his apathy any minute and accuse her. But he didn't. He just stared into space. He did not say a word since he got back from the hospital where Sean was taken care of. Parker was amazed that someone had a will so strong that they could survive two bad gunshot wounds and a couple of broken bones and still take out 14 armed men. Although Sean was comatose, he was alive.

"It's all my fault! I got sloppy and you got captured...and Sean... I'm sorry" Parker sobbed realizing that Eliot would have taken a bullet in order to protect her.

She started crying. No one ever had protected her in such a way. Eliot moved over to sit next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer.

"Hush darlin', you did nothin' wrong. It just was bad luck. It is not your fault at all. Fuller set this all in motion when he killed Sean's girl."

"But..." she sobbed.

Then bolting to her feet, she ran out of the room, making her way to the roof. She needed some space; and time to think. No one had ever risked their life for her and surely no one had ever forgiven her when she had surely messed something up. Once reaching the roof she headed for a dark corner. Sitting on the ground and hugging her knees, she started to cry again.

Assuming he had said something wrong he went after her. He figured Parker would head for the roof; she liked being there, he recalled. He could not wrap his head around the fact that she thought she was to blame for this mess. She must have had a far more terrible childhood than he knew, for her have that way of thinking.

When he reached the door leading onto the roof he could hear quiet sobs and crying; his heart broke just by the sound of it. He wanted to put his arms around the blonde thief and protect her from the world itself since she had had to suffer so much.

He found her in the darkest corner of the roof, rivers of tears streaming down her pretty face. Eliot had always felt that his defenses had gotten constantly weaker during the time they worked together and now definitely, she had managed to sneak into his inner-sanctum and was about to crack the safe that contained his heart.

"Hey sweetheart, why are you cyrin'?" he asked softly. "You did nothin' wrong." he assured her.

He sat down next to her and she immediately buried her head in his shoulder crying her very heart out.

"I never had people to care for me- or to protect me. But you were ready to get yourself shot for me and protected me from our very first job as a team...I never...I'm sorry you get hurt so much because of me." she whispered into his shoulder.

"Easy there darlin'. You don't have to be sorry for anythin'. Sure, I get hurt in order to keep you safe but I would do it over and over again 'cause I could never forgive myself if somethin' ever happened to you sweetheart. You…" He did not come any further because the next thing he felt was Parker putting her lips on his.

Eliot felt like he had gotten hit with a sledge hammer when Parker kissed him. His mind went into overdrive as he put his hand in her hair pulling her closer in order to deepen the kiss. He knew he had feelings for her but now he realized what she really meant to him. In fact, he noticed that she was the one thing that made him human. After all, his life before the team did not offer any share of comfort or happiness.

Parker did not know what else do to when she heard Eliot tell her he would always protect her. She had always assumed that he didn't like her because he was always telling her that there was 'somethin' wrong with her.' What she did know was the fact that she had been intrigued by him right form the start. He never shared his past with the rest of the team. At first she just wanted to reveal his secret but now she wanted to take all the bad things that clearly must have happened to him away from him and put them somewhere far way so they could never get back to him Somehow she felt it was the right thing to do as the knot in her stomach turned into a swarm of butterflies as Eliot framed her face with one hand while kissing her passionately. She did not know what exactly that was but she knew it was amazing. Her heart was beating so loud she could hardly hear anything else. She never wanted that feeling to stop.

But they had to when they went low on oxygen, slowly pulling away from each other. Eliot looked into Parker's eyes and could not help but to recognize how beautiful she was. He put his arm around her shoulder again and she cuddled up to him taking his free hand and intertwining their fingers. They sat that way for what seemed like hours to them.

"Hey darlin'," he whispered as he noticed she had fallen asleep "wake up; you'll get yourself a cold out here."

Parker's eyes blinked a couple of times before they opened again and Eliot was completely taken by her sky-blue orbs.

"What's the matter? I just went off to dreamy land." she said.

When she realized she had fallen asleep on Eliot's shoulder she blushed; the butterflies flying around in her stomach again.

"Noticed that sweetheart but I ain't the best bed around. Better you go down and have a sleep there."

He got up and helped her back onto her feet as well. She kissed his cheek and bounced off the roof. As the door closed Eliot found himself thinking of Sean again. If he had not shown up Eliot might have never admitted his feelings for Parker to himself at all. He decided to visit Sean in the hospital tomorrow.

Parker felt like she was on fire. She had never fallen asleep on someone's shoulder, and especially not on a cold roof. But Eliot was different from other people. He did not take advantage of her, instead he comforted her and she remembered how safe she felt when he put his arm around her. She felt like finally, she had found home. But she could not quite understand what the butterflies in her stomach meant. She decided to talk to Sophie about that topic; she knew more about life and feelings than Parker did. Yeah, Sophie would help her sort it out.


	3. Chapter 3

_And (finally) here is chapter three of Redemption. I'm sorry it took so long, writer's block some arguments with my computer and so on._

_Anyhow, a happy new year to all of you! Special thanks again to katiemac1992 for beta-reading._

_Enjoy!

* * *

  
_

Eliot hated hospitals; especially the intensive care units. It doesn't matter whether you're a patient or a visitor- you suffer.

As a visitor you have to witness someone you care about at the edge of death; as a patient you have no other options than to hope you survive through the night.

Eliot really hated hospitals.

But his contempt for being at a hospital was outweighed by the solidarity and friendship that he felt for Sean. The sergeant had risked his very life to keep both Eliot and Parker alive, so he felt being at his side while the man was in a coma was the least he could do. It was a great relief when Eliot was told that Sean was breathing on his own because that meant his chances of surviving were rather good.

Eliot kept a silent vigil at Sean's side each day for about a week now. Today was no different as he sat on a stool next to his bed and waited for Sean to wake up.

Just as he was about to leave, this day he heard moaning and movement on the bed. He turned around and saw Sean's eyes blinking as he woke up from his coma.

"Ouch" was the first thing the sergeant said after he opened his eyes completely and Eliot could not help but to smile. '_Stubborn as a wall of bricks'_ he thought.

"Hey there old man, how do you feel?" Eliot asked still smiling.

"Like I was killed, resurrected and killed again. My head hurts like hell. Apart from that I'm simply hungry." Sean answered with an attempt of a grin.

Noticing the concerned look on Eliot's face he asked, "You look like you just saw a ghost, what happened?"

"Do you remember how you got here?" Eliot simply asked back.

"I remember catching a bullet for you and...What was her name… ah yeah, for you and Parker. Next thing I remember is that I crashed to the floor which was paved with guards form the company. Nice work you did there son." he responded.

"I was already outside the buildin' with Parker, serge. You fought these guys all on your own with two gunshot wounds. And by fought I mean you ripped them apart. Three of 'em died from internal bleedin' and two are in a coma; the doctors say they'll probably never wake up. One man's now sittin' in a wheelchair." Eliot said with a deep and concerned voice.

Sean's face became as white as the wall behind him when Eliot told him what he had done.

"No," he whispered. "I vowed to never let it happen again..." his voice cracked as tears filled his eyes.

Eliot frowned "To never let _what_ happen again serge?"

He did not understand what Sean was saying.

"You know I'm called 'Vortex', don't you?"

Eliot nodded.

"Well, when I get angry enough I become someone different- someone... evil. I can't control myself and all the rage I swallowed down up to that moment is unleashed. Last time that happened I smashed a man's face so hard against a wall that he was dead before he hit the ground; his head was just a bloody mess. Each night I see the scene happening all over again. That's the reason why I left the army. Being a soldier means to protect others- not to massacre them." He said with some kind of relief in his voice.

"That day I vowed to myself to never let that happen again".

Eliot stood staring into space. He could not wrap his head around what that poor man had to go through in his life. When he left the hospital and drove home he wished to somehow free Sean from his burden. _'Maybe when that creep Fuller is brought down he can finally find some peace' _he thought as he drove through the still and silent, cold night.

Parker was beaming. She had a couple of talks with Sophie about what had happened between her and Eliot on that roof a week ago. And Sophie came to the conclusion that Parker was in love with Eliot. _Love._ Every time Parker thought about the word- or anything related to Eliot, she smiled and felt a huge swarm of butterflies flying around in her stomach.

She always looked up when she heard the door that leads into their HQ (which was in fact Nate's apartment) open, hoping she would see Eliot smiling at her. This time he was anything but smiling and she suddenly feared that she had done something that pissed him off, because he looked as if he was about to rip someone to shreds with his bare hands. But when he saw her his face relaxed a bit and she smiled widely.

Once everyone was gathered around the coffee table Eliot told them what Sean told him that night. And they all came to the same conclusion: Bring Fuller to justice. And since Fuller now knew Eliot and Sophie's faces they had to come up with a different strategy...

"They'll probably know Parker and Sean's faces by now; they certainly went through every piece of their surveillance material by now. Dammit!" Hardison murmured to himself. "Only people left are me and Nate. How the _hell_ are we supposed to lure Fuller into a trap now? He'll be even more paranoid after what happened last week."

"Maybe the statue we got in order to hook will do the trick." Nate suggested "Because we replaced it with a fake it hasn't been reported stolen yet. We could go steal the fake and destroy it, so Fuller will be left with the original." He went on.

"Sure thing, but he'll most likely say he got it from some shady people and didn't know it was stolen and the ball would come back to us. Nothin' gained that way." Eliot pointed out.

"Can't Hardison work some of his geeky magic to somehow make Eliot and Sophie some detectives working undercover in order to get him for screwing the taxes or something like that?"

All heads turned to the front door as they heard the familiar voice. Sean hobbled into the room, his hospital clothes still on.

"They let you go that quickly?" Eliot, once more, did not understand that man.

"I made them let me go. They said there was no severe damage so I decided I would be better off on my own; those doctors like to cage you. You got anything to eat here? That sorry excuse for food in that hospital should be reported to Amnesty International. Ugh." Sean said. And when no answer came and he noticed everyone looking at him like he was mad he added "and some clothes would be nice. In this getup, I would be just as soon recognized as a colored dog in no time."

They all simply stared at the man. He was comatose for an entire week and one day later he woke up-as if he'd just woken from a nap, left the hospital and was now asking for food and clothes. Parker was the first to overcome the awkward situation by hugging Sean with one of her I-am-about-to-do-something-you-will-not-like grins while the others just broke into hilarious laughter.

"Yeah I sure could work some 'geek-magic' but what good could that do?" Hardison asked not grasping what Sean had in mind.

"Well if Eliot and Sophie turn out to be detectives working undercover when he accuses them of selling stolen goods, the statue's owner won't ask any other questions as to why he was not told right from the start. He'll be more than glad to help; he has enough dirt to hide as any criminal worth his salt. Fuller instead will be charged and convicted of fencing stolen property which will launch a federal investigation. The feds will dig through his entire company to find anything to add to his charges; they'll surely find the documents we need to get him out of the picture for good." Nate explained to Hardison.

"Got it- on it! Consider it done!" The hacker answered simply, his fingers flying over the keyboard of his laptop.

After everyone left Nate's to go home (apart from Nate who lived there and Sean who fell asleep on the couch) only Eliot and Parker were left.

"I got a few errands to run. You'll keep an eye on our sleeping super-hero over there. I should only be gone a few hours; do not blow this place up- or anything...please." Nate said with a smile as he left the apartment.

Eliot sighed. He had waited for the entire week to get a chance to talk to Parker about what had happened on the roof when Sean was at the hospital. It seemed to him that now was the right time to address the issue, but he was not sure how she would react to this let's-talk-about-what-happened thing. He _did_ know that Parker felt things but she felt them _differently_.

"Hey there darlin'. Want somethin' to eat?" Eliot asked to start this rather strange conversation he was about to have.

The amusing part was that he felt like he was in high school, about to talk to his first real crush. Considering all the women he dated before, this should be more than routine to him. But Parker was no ordinary woman. He knew she was heavily scarred on the inside and she shielded herself from getting hurt by not showing _any _feeling. Moreover, Eliot's feelings for Parker were not ordinary to him either. What he felt came from the very center of his heart; not from inside his pants, as was usually the case. That frightened him, but also made him smile like a fool.

"Sure I could use a good fortune-cookie. Let's go!" She said almost outside the door.

"Wait sweetheart, I meant some _real_ food; not some weird cookies." He could not understand that fortune cookie thing. "Would a grilled, medium rare steak change your mind?" he asked with the most charming smile he was capable of.

Her eyes widened as she heard the word 'steak' and she immediately returned to the kitchen.

"I haven't had a steak in ages!" she all but yelled; a giant smile all over her face.

Eliot could not help but to think that she was getting more beautiful each time he looked at her.

While Eliot was working on the steak Parker watched every move he made like he was performing a miracle. He chuckled at the sight of it. He would watch her the same way when he saw her doing what she did best. He would never be able to move quite like she could; performing all kind of stunts. He didn't need to anyway. When he wanted to get somewhere he either seduced the secretary, or if that didn't work, beat the crap out of a few guys. Either way, it worked out. But Parker could get anywhere without being seen or detected. He admired that.

When they finished their meal (which was done almost in silence, apart from a few 'yummy!' yells from Parker) Sean woke up from his slumber. As he got up he saw Eliot and Parker finishing the dishes.

"Mornin' old man, finally awoke from the dead?" Eliot asked as he spotted Sean.

"You are aware that that makes no sense. Sean was never dead so how could he awake from the dead?" Parker asked with her endearing, almost childish behavior.

"It's a figure of speech for someone who woke from a very deep sleep." Sean explained absentmindedly.

"If you don't mind I'll settle myself in real bed now and get back to sleep; oddly I feel like I haven't slept in a lifetime. When Nate returns, tell him I'm upstairs. Night." He murmured still groggy from sleep as he made his way upstairs.

"You know you two could be brothers." Parker mentioned after Sean was out of sight.

"I learned a lot from him." Eliot replied. "So what now? Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure, why not? Should be fun." Parker practically jumped onto the couch waiting for him to come over.

Eliot just shook his head sitting down next to her and she immediately snuggled up to him, resting her head on his chest.

"You know I talked to Sophie about that thing… we did up on the roof? You wanna know what she told me?" Parker asked her head still on chest.

Eliot could not say anything more than a shallow 'course darlin'. He felt like he was about to burst for his heart was acting like a steam hammer trying to tear down the walls that surrounded it. He had to gasp for air before he could answer properly.

"Sure darlin'. What did Sophie have to say to you?" He asked.

He expected everything but the words he heard next; Parker caught him totally off guard. She raised her head and looked him straight into his eyes:

"I love you" she said before putting her lips on his.

And if Eliot had not been so busy responding to her passion-fueled kisses, he would have told her that he felt the same way about her.

Sean felt a burden drop from his shoulders once he heard Parker reveal her feelings to Eliot. He smiled proudly like a father whose son had just brought his first girlfriend home.

He turned to his side and slipped into a peaceful sleep, genuinely happy for the strange couple downstairs; the first time since his wife died.


	4. Chapter 4

_So here is the final version of my latest chapter, as promised. And again very special thanks to katiemac1992 for working her amazing magic on it. Enjoy!_

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Eliot felt his heart beating at the speed of light. Sure, there were women before Parker who confessed their love for him. Truth was he never had any true feelings for them. Ever since what happened between Aimee and him all those years ago, love made him skittish; not a word usually attributed to the hitter. But Parker managed to sneak past his defenses providing the spark that awoke the deepest corners of his soul; unleashing feelings that lied dormant for so many years. The way she said those three words he was unable to form for all this time– with her childish honesty– made his insides come to life again. More importantly, he actually had the same _genuine_ feelings for her.

With Parker still resting her head on his chest he found it almost impossible to breathe– much less say something. Still, he was curious as to what exactly Sophie had to say about the two of them.

"So what have you and Sophie been talking about this past week?" he started. Parker lifted her head and looked questioningly at the hitter. "I just told you, didn't I?" she asked. Eliot just chuckled; that was exactly why he loved her. And with that he was in; he may not have said it verbally, but every action originates from a thought, so right then he completely realized and accepted that he was in love with her.

"Mhm, I got that sweetheart. But what I meant was what you talked about _specifically_?" he asked smiling like a fool. Parker's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, you mean the girl's talk we had?"

Eliot nodded and Parker nestled her head into his chest again.

"Well, I told her about what happened on the roof and how my stomach stirred and that rush of excitement that flows through me whenever I think of you. At first I thought you poisoned me with that food of yours." She stopped, crinkling her nose for a moment before continuing. "But Sophie said we both looked more at ease and smiled more often when we were around each other. She observed us for this last week and just yesterday she told me her conclusion. She said that I was in love with you" she recalled the facts with her eyes pointing to her forehead. She focused her sight again on Eliot and smiled "I like that" she added.

Eliot was completely stunned. Not by the fact that they were more at ease while in the company of each other but by the fact that she liked being so open about her feelings. He remembered how broken and lost she had been when that scumbag Dalton Rand unearthed some of her deeply buried memories. The only reason that creature was still alive was that he wasn't worth getting your hands dirty. So her revelation took him totally off-guard. He didn't know much of her past but he knew enough to know that she had suffered gravely. And the mere thought of her being hurt by all the families that failed her drove him insane. Maybe he could track one of her former foster families down and have a 'word' with them.

"You know what darlin'?" he whispered softly into her ears which made her hug him a little more tightly. "Hmm?" she purred. "I love you, too" the hitter said as he lifted her head and kissed her tenderly.

* * *

_Sean slowly woke after hearing something down the hall of his house. He blinked a couple of times and as he listened closer he realized that someone was screaming. That voice sounded familiar, could it..? A panicked scream cut him out of his thinking "Daddy!" the tiny voice yelled through the house. Instantly he was awake and darted towards his daughter's room. As he entered he found Lisa totally curled up in her blanket crying and screaming. "Daddy!" she yelled again. He rushed over to her, scooping her up. "I'm here butterfly. What's wrong?" he asked softly. The little girl in his arms just pointed towards the window but kept her head buried into his shoulder, crying her little heart out. After several heavy sobs she looked up. Her eyes were crimson from all the crying "There was a bad man at the window. He scared me" she sobbed. Sean felt his blood begin to boil as he placed Lisa back onto the bed and slowly walked over to the window she had pointed at. Whomever that sick bastard was that scared his little girl would not live long enough to regret the mistake he had just made._

_As he got closer to the window he noticed the storm outside. It was raining heavily and the wind was howling like a pack of wolves. The constant exchange of lightning and thunder made Lisa sob frequently. As Sean reached the window a sudden burst of lightning revealed the shape of a head behind the window. Sean couldn't shake the odd feeling that he knew this guy. He opened the window and was ready to beat the very life out of this man when another flash of light illuminated the man's face. Sean could only gasp when he recognized who that man was. "You!" he hissed as anger coursed through his entire being. Suddenly the man was no longer at the window. Before Sean could even think of where he'd gone off to his daughter screamed. "Daddy! The bad man's here! Make him go away, please!" A painful stab went through his heart upon hearing his little girl sound so frightened. He turned around to find the other man leaning over her bed and Sean detected some sort of wicked grin on the man's face. With a growl Sean stomped over to the bed, eyes fierce and dead-locked, ready to snap that bastard's neck. Then suddenly the man picked Lisa up and held an inhaler to her mouth. Sean froze immediately, his hands now shaking with anger. "Go away!" his daughter managed to cry out as she tried to push the man's hand away. Still grinning the man opened his mouth and a dark and wicked voice spoke to him "You can't save her."_

"Lisa!" Sean shouted as he almost jolted from the bed he lay in. Panting heavily it took a few moments before he recognized where he was. He fell back with a sigh. Not that dream again; it plagued him ever since he discovered that his daughter had to die because one man couldn't get enough. Unwilling to fight the tears that made their way to the pillow he turned on his side and cried. _Why? _He asked himself. Why had life taken away everything he cherished? Why did his innocent, sweet, little girl have to die so young? He didn't know and he certainly didn't want to know if there was some greater plot behind all of this. He sobbed; the only thing that kept him going right now was his need for revenge and his friendship with Eliot. That man managed to shine some light on his miserable existence. He gave him hope. Hope that the man who killed Lisa would pay. But this hope faded with every failed attempt at bringing him down. It was like Fuller knew who they were and what they were up to.

He looked at the clock that stood on a table next to the bed. It read 8:00 AM. With a sigh he rose making his way to the bathroom downstairs as he wiped the remaining tears from his face. When he entered the living room of Nate's apartment a small smile spread across his face. On the couch lied Eliot and Parker, sleeping, cuddled into each other with Parker's head nestled into his chest. At least there was something good that came of this mess.

After cleaning himself up he made his way to the roof. He needed to clear his head and looking at Boston's skyline always provided a little comfort. He stepped into the cold morning and watched as Boston slowly awoke from its slumber. More and more people emerged on the streets and went about their daily routine. Cars drove from homes to working places and stores. The rising sun cast the whole scene into a warm light of red and orange. The cold wind blew across the roofs and again a small smile forced its way across his face. The world itself was a wonderful place. Some people however, managed to destruct it. People, who only thought of themselves, people who couldn't care less about others. Sean hated them, all of them. _What kind of world do we actually live in, if everyone has to sacrifice their humanity to make a living? _He asked himself not for the first time. Shaking his head in disbelief he walked back into the building.

* * *

Eliot woke from the most peaceful sleep he'd had in ages. In fact, it was the first time in he couldn't remember how long, he'd slept for more than 90 minutes; there were no nightmares, no voices, and no horrendous images that usually plagued his sleep. He smiled, for he knew the reason for this phenomenon. He looked down to see Parker's head nestled into his chest and he believed he could see a small smile on her beautiful features. He wondered how someone so gorgeous could contain such a scarred and abused soul like she did. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb while his thoughts started to wander.

The sound of a closing door caused Parker to stir and moan and eventually she woke. She wearily looked around, in search of the source of the disturbance. She made out Sean making coffee and just when she was about to get up she realized where she was. She looked up and found a smirking Eliot looking at her. She blushed and turned away, somehow feeling guilty for falling asleep on him. Noticing her troubled look Eliot moved her head so she was facing him again. "It's alright, ok? I'm not mad at you, sweetheart. Relax" he whispered to her while stroking her cheek. Before she knew it she found herself leaning into his tender action and moving one hand through his hair.

Sean watched the two lovebirds with a smirk. He pondered whether to show himself or to let them go on a bit more. He decided the let them know they were not exactly alone. "Mornin' to you too. From the looks of it I presume you slept well?" he said still smirking as he took a sip of his coffee. "You sure know how to ruin the moment!" Eliot growled back but Sean could just make out the smile on his face. "Well if you wanted to be alone you shouldn't have stayed here. Want some coffee?" he asked. Parker had already jumped off the couch and rushed to the kitchen, serving herself a bowl of cereal. She sat down and ate while humming a melody which Sean didn't recognize. Eliot however scuffled over to the kitchen and nodded towards Sean. He understood and poured another cup of coffee.

As the grogginess slowly lifted Eliot noticed that Sean's eyes were reddened and he looked more distracted than usual- somehow sadder. "Didn't sleep well, serge?" he asked. "I told you stop calling me that didn't I?" Sean barked back "so quit it." He gritted sternly. Eliot and Parker both stared at him. "Sorry, didn't mean to snap at you," he murmured. "Bad dreams?" Eliot asked, his voice filled with concern. In his book, that man went through enough pain already. It was about time to get to Fuller. Sean just nodded. "What about?" Parker asked in her usual childlike innocence and oblivious curiosity. Sean looked directed his focus to her, his eyes beginning to water, he buried his head into his hands- quiet sobs escaping his mouth. Eliot took her hand in his, reassuring her that she didn't cause any harm. After a few silent moments Sean lifted his head again. "S-Sorry, it's just… you sounded just like her- the way you asked." he whispered. "Acted like whom?" Parker asked becoming slightly irritated from impatience. "Like my daughter. She had the same curious spark in her eyes when she asked me a question, the same innocence in her voice," his voice cracking again, clearly at the edge of tears.

Parker understood, and let go of Eliot's hand, putting an arm around Sean's shoulder. "We'll get him, I promise" she said, rubbing her hand up and down his arm. "It'd better be soon, I don't know how much more I can take." he said. Eliot however admired Parker for comforting him. He knew she hated physical contact but this time she actually made the first move. He felt proud of her for slowly overcoming her initial mistrust and making an effort.

* * *

As Nate, Sophie, and Hardison joined them in the apartment they all gathered around the coffee table in the living room; Hardison had some updates for them. "So I worked all my 'magic' but as I'm sure by now, you know, these tax investigations are not top priority for those bean counters and theft is even below that. This will take at least a month or two before they even start investigating." The hacker explained. Sean moved his hands through his hair, he didn't like how this all was not working out. "So what, we're gonna sit around for two months waitin' for some pen artist to _perhaps_ look at the file? _Seriously?"_ Eliot barked at Hardison. "You got any better ideas apart from beatin' him up? I don't see any other options!" the hacker shot back.

"Come to think of it, I doubt even that will work; someone with as much pull with the legal system as Fuller, surely has an inside man in every law enforcement unit. Cancel it, Hardison it's no use." Nate said while Sean's face lost all its color. "And before you ask, yes, I have a plan that would actually do the trick" the mastermind explained upon seeing Sean's reaction. "I'm surprised that it didn't cross my mind earlier. We're going to need one of those inhalers they sell" he went on. "What for," Sean growled, the mere thought of one of those gadgets made him sick. "Well, we get one and give it to some doctors to examine. They will surely find some substances that cause extreme damage to the human body." Nate explained further.

"Ah, I get it! They find the stuff, we publish it, and he's done!" Parker all but shouted in excitement. Sean's face lit up as a sudden relief went through him. "Figures, The most complicated problems are solved through triviality." Eliot mumbled.

"Sophie, Hardison we're going to get those inhalers. You other's do whatever you want just don't do anything stupid, alright?" Nate said smirking as he left his apartment with Sophie and Alec in tow. Noticing the relieved look on Sean's face Parker couldn't help but to smile. "See? I told you we'd get him!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Yes," he sighed as he leaned back against the couch. He closed his eyes and pictured his late family before him.

Sean could finally see what had caused such an extreme change in Eliot's need to work alone; He had acquired a family somewhere along the way.

As the rest of the team met back up and gathered in the living room they went over ironing out the rest of the plan and decided to order Chinese takeout.

As they made to join the rest of the team, Sean stopped Eliot. "Thanks again Spencer." Sean said to Eliot gratefully. Eliot nodded, "That's what friends do- It's what _we_ do."

"Hey guys, we're ordering Chinese. Sound good?" Hardison yelled over to them. Sean and Eliot both nodded and they could hear Sophie scolding Hardison for yelling across the apartment.

They remained standing for just a moment longer and watched Nate on the phone, placing the order while waving a dismissive hand at Parker who was insisting Nate order extra fortune cookies. Hardison decided to question Parker, who then began to explain that it was her favorite breakfast. Hardison dared to try Eliot's favorite catch line to Parker. (Operative word being try) "Girl, there must be somethin' wrong with you. Fortune cookies for brea- Oww!" He never got to finish because Parker slugged him in the arm. "You never hit Eliot for saying that," the hacker complained rubbing his arm. "Because he's Eliot," Parker stated matter-of-factly, as if that were all the explanation it required.

Sean saw a glint of pride in Eliot's eyes and knew Eliot must have taught Parker that move.

"Some family you've made yourself, Eliot," Sean said slapping Eliot on the shoulder (like only he and Parker dared to.) Eliot grinned in a way Sean couldn't recall ever seeing Eliot do before he found him joined with this peculiar yet tight knit team. "I know," Eliot said proudly. Sean leaned in closer whispering meaningfully, "Don't lose them." And with that they headed to the living room to join Eliot's family.


	5. Chapter 5

_A happy new year to all of you! I'm sorry I kept you waiting so very long. My aunt's cancer, the stress at university and the fact that I couldn't get a hold of my beta-reader delayed any progress on this. That being said, I am looking for a new beta-reader, so if anyone is interested just pm me and we'll figure something out._

_Enjoy! :-)_

* * *

The next morning Sean felt a strange wave of hope rushing through him as he stepped outside McCrory's, hope that justice will finally be done. He scoffed inwards, hope was a curious thing. When you're trapped in an ever dark cell, a single lightning in the far distance could give you hope, that you might get out of there, even if you know you don't. He shook his head and continued walking.

He needed to go to his place; he hadn't been there for over a week now. The mail was probably stacking at the door and his neighbors would have filed a missing persons report already. He smiled faintly; he had much bigger problems than that right now. He walked down the street and tried to sort out everything that happened. Why did they fail at every attempt to bring Fuller down? Had he someone following them? Was he blackmailing someone from the team? Had he bugged the office? He sighed, it was no use. He shook his head and kept on walking through the cold morning.

As he reached his apartment building, he nearly jumped as someone just started talking to him. "Good morning Mr. Murphy. Haven't seen you around here for quite some time now. Been busy?" Jeff, the doorman said in his usual cheerful voice. Sean needed to take a deep breath before his body relaxed and he allowed himself to put on a polite smile. "Yeah kind of. But I really need to wrap up some business. Have a nice one" he replied trying not to sound too harsh. That man was just being friendly; there was no reason to snap at him. Jeff nodded, though he looked a little confused as Sean stepped into the elevator.

When he got to his apartment it was as he expected it to be. Newspapers and mail stacking up inside, some notes from his neighbor as to where he had been. He sighed, better start cleaning the place up.

Back at Nate's place it was one of those mornings, on which everyone wrapped their stuff together to go to their respective 'homes'. Hardison mumbled something about he had some catching up to do with his online buddies. Sophie went for a clothes-shopping trip, while Nate said he needed to get some groceries. Eliot stayed longer for he had to clean up the kitchen (that was his and only his realm after all, despite Nate's cooking lessons in prison) and Parker was checking possible entrances for a break-in and also ran a test on their existing security system. After what happened to the original offices, she felt that she needed to protect her new found and strange family. That thought however still scared the life out of her; because the term family, in her case, was not exactly linked to pleasant memories. Every family she ever was in never really accepted her. Not even her real family understood her. Just her brother did… she let out a little sob. _Don't go ther__e Parker._

Eliot's heart almost stopped when he heard the distinctive sound of his favorite thief sobbing. He didn't know what it was that upset her, but if he'd had to guess he'd say it was either about foster children or her foster families. He really needed to ask Hardison to get him some names so that he could deliver the proper punishment to her former families for failing her. "You okay, darlin'?" he said towards the ceiling; he figured she would probably be crawling through the ventilation shafts. "Yeah, I'm fine. No need to worry" she replied matter-of-factly. He nodded; that voice usually meant that she wouldn't talk about it any further and he respected that.

"Hey Parker, want me to give you a lift to your place?" he asked; trying to shift her focus away from whatever it was that plagued her right now. However, Parker's body completely froze. Her instincts practically screamed at her to say no and just run. _When you let people get close to you they all just end up hurting you._ However, her heart and stomach told her the exact opposite thing. _Eliot is not just anyone, he cares. He said that and what he says is honest, period._ Her mind was racing and suddenly she found it hard to breathe. It took all her control to relax her body in order to ease her breathing. The fight inside her still raged on and eventually both heart and mind found some middle ground. "No I think I get home by myself. But maybe ... maybe we could do that coffee-thingy that Alice did with Peggy. You okay with that?" she asked, slightly trembling; unsure of what his answer might be. She still was freaked out by that dating business.

"Sounds great to me, sweetheart. Shall I pick you up, or do you want to meet there? Assuming you want to go to the same place you went with Peggy." he asked. He had to be careful how to talk to her when it came to that kind of things. "Yup, I'll meet you there" she replied and continued to make her way through the ventilation shafts.

Sean inwardly cursed the strange magic that Nate's apartment and his dysfunctional little crew of high-tech Robin Hoods had on him. That and his little vacancy at the ICU prevented him from taking care of his place. Answering all the missed calls, e-mails, letters and what not made him grunt more times than he remembered letting out before. It appeared to him that he suddenly climbed the ladder of importance (as far as his family was concerned) straight to the top. All those hypocrite condolences he found made his blood boil. They sent them because they needed to ease their minds, not because they cared. He cleared out the bad things from his fridge but tossed the thought to refill it aside. He would probably be staying at Nate's longer than he planned anyway.

As he stepped onto the street again and began to walk to McRory's he had the strange feeling that someone was watching him. Normally he put such feelings aside, assuming he was just paranoid. But this time it felt different, more intense which told him that it was not his mind that was playing trick on him. He looked around but was unable to make out anything special. Everything was as it was supposed to be. And that was what bugged him; it was _too _normal. He kept on walking; trying his best to appear as ordinary as he could.

He turned into an alley so that he might get a picture of who was following him but again, nothing was out of the ordinary. Now he began to get scared, which in turn made him furious. He exited the alley again and continued on his way towards the office with a grim expression on his face. He was so focused on not lashing at people who accidentally ran into him that he didn't notice the two men in black leather jackets following him. He also failed to notice that they followed him into yet another alley which was a shortcut to McRory's. He only noticed the two men closing in on him as one of them jammed a syringe into his throat. After that everything went black.

Parker was sitting on the bed in one of her safe houses hugging her bunny. The emotional _war _that was raging inside her made her want to hide in a dark corner and wait until the storm was over. But she knew that wouldn't help anything. So she tried to figure out everything that happened in this last week. Eliot kissing her (which again sent a wave of giddy excitement through her), Sophie's revelation that the hitter and the thief were in love with each other, her instincts telling her to run as far away from Boston as she could. Why was she feeling this way? She had been alone with Eliot before, so why was she scared of him driving her home? Didn't she want him to see how she lived? No, he had already seen it when they tried to free her from the Steranko.

It was not like he hadn't given her a lift to where she wanted to go before. But those time were different, there was always someone around that she could turn to for help; even if she had to scream into her com. She mentally kicked her butt for assuming that Eliot would do anything to her. Behind his rough and bitter exterior she knew that deep inside, he was just an oversized teddy bear. Something she could hug furiously, like her bunny.

And then her mind did the one thing she hated it for. It tried to compare the feelings she experienced when she was in his presence or when she just was thinking about him, or the team in general, to something it knew. Which unfortunately caused it to dig up memories of her brother's death, how her family fell apart, how she was handed over from one foster family to another, how nobody _cared _about her. Tears made their way into her eyes and down her face and eventually landed on her bunny's head, like they had times beyond counting. And it was then, that she realized just how much the team meant to her. She put her bunny along with her gear and tools inside a duffle bag and all but stormed out of the building to the one person she knew could make her feel safe.

As Eliot pulled into the parking lot of his apartment his mind was in a completely different place. Way before he even heard the name Nathan Ford. When he thought he had a shot at a normal life; when he was still wit Aimee. He growled, that woman would always be a mystery to him. He left her back in the day because he was protecting her. His line of work was not exactly about making friends. He had enemies, people who wanted him to suffer. And he just couldn't bear the thought of her getting hurt because of something he did. He even tried to explain to her but she wouldn't listen and just kicked him out. Left him on the street like a wet dog with no home, no family to turn to. That was when he decided to never let anyone get close to him again. What happened with Aimee would just keep repeating itself over and over again.

He growled, trying to burn that memory out of his mind but it wouldn't let him. It kept telling him that this was the way things would end between him and Parker, that he would end up hurting her while trying to protect her. However, his heart started rebelling against the alleged dominance of his mind. It told him that with Parker it was different, she could take care of herself and moreover, he had a family now that would stand beside him no matter what.

Realizing he sat in his car for about ten minutes while listening to the discussion his mind and heart were having he let out a chuckle. _Sorry to interrupt you guys, but I'm in charge here_ he said to himself to shut out the voices in his head. He grabbed his bag and went up the stairs to his apartment. When he arrived at the door he noticed that someone had messed with his lock. It was almost impossible to see but Eliot knew what he had to look for. His body tensed, ready to fight for his very existence if need be. But as he slowly stepped through the door he smirked. He could sense that scent everywhere; Parker was here.

Sean's eyes slowly opened as he tried to figure out why he had to open his eyes in the first place. He remembered walking to Nate's and the feeling of being followed. But after that, nothing. However, his headache and the fact that he was tied to a chair told him that he had not just passed out. He had been kidnapped but was too tired and groggy at the time to free himself from his shackles. But he already knew _who _had him kidnapped, there was only one person he had pissed off enough to get himself abducted. Unless he had fallen victim to some psychotic serial killer for whom he resembles someone.

"Ah, Mr. Murphy. It is so kind of you to finally honor us with the pleasure of you being conscious" a voice behind him said, mockingly. Sean didn't even need to turn around to know which face went with that voice. He had heard it enough times already on the TV, where it tried to profit from other people's suffering.

The sudden wave of adrenaline and anger that raced through him caused his dizziness to fall off in mere seconds. Instead he started to growl and his muscles flexed and strained his shackles to the edge of bursting while said restrains grinded into his flesh. His vision entirely reddened and he could hear the beast within him, telling him to let it out, to give into his rage. He had to submit to the pain at some point and he took a few deep breaths while he told himself that he was above this primal need for blood vengeance. Needless to say that it was useless, he wanted nothing more than to rip that man's spine out.

"Ah-ah, dear Sean. Yes that is correct, I know who you are. And I know who your friends are. A shame, really, that I am unable to take you all out at once. But I will get rid of you nonetheless." Greg Fuller replied is his humiliating tone. "Moreover, all this growling and rambling like a rabid animal really doesn't help our relationship here. You might want to think that over. I'm sure your daug…"

"Don't you _**dare**_ mention her" Sean barked over his shoulder while he shot up, taking the chair he was restraint to with him. It was no comfortable stance but his pride would no longer just sit by while that _creature _made fun of him and his family. As he turned around and slowly hobbled (moving with a chair tied to your back doesn't really allow normal walking) towards Fuller he could see the slightest trace of fear in said man's eyes. _Good _he thought as his mouth turned into a wicked grin.

"What are you doing here, darlin'?. And how did you know where I live?" Eliot asked both surprised and utterly glad to see her in his apartment. She didn't respond but just stood inside his living room and took everything in. "It suits you" she whispered, afraid that this would all crumble beneath her if she spoke too loudly. The warm and comfortable colors of his furniture somehow soothed her and made her feel welcome at the same time.

"Well thank you Parker, but that still doesn't answer why you came here" Eliot said as he put his bag down and slowly moved towards her. She turned around and faced him "I was scared. And lonely, I don't like being scared" she said before her face brightened up and she rushed towards him and jump-hugged him. "But now you're here" she hummed into his neck and for a second Eliot thought that he might have fallen asleep in his car and was having a _very _nice daydream. The contact of their bodies however told him otherwise and he let out a small but content sigh. She was as light as a feather but she hugged him with a force that Eliot didn't think she had.

"So what was it that scared you so, sweetheart?" Eliot whispered as he gently put her down on her feet again. But the moment he saw Parker's face he regretted asking her, her lip was trembling and he could almost hear the tears forming behind her eyes. "I remembered. What it was like before I met you all" she answered in such a tiny voice that Eliot to move a little closer to understand. "What did you remember?" he inquired further.

Parker took a very deep breath to keep it all together. "I feel safe with the team. Even more so with you. But every time I felt safe in the past something happened that destroyed it. Mean people, greedy people. I know you are not mean or greedy or anything. But I'm still afraid that something will come around, destroy it and laugh at our faces after it is finished" she said frantically. Eliot stepped closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's alright Parker. Nothing is going to destroy our family. I won't let it happen, I promise" he said in the most calming voice he was able to create. He felt her relax under his touch and the tiniest smile spread across her lips. She closed her eyes and hugged him again, putting a small kiss on his neck that left goose bumps in its wake. "Can I stay with you, Eliot?" she whispered into his ear "Just for a few days, nothing major" she quickly added.

Eliot felt like an angel just picked him up and lifted him to heaven. "You can stay as long as you want, darlin'. And I promise I won't let anything happen to you. If anyone wants got get you, they have to go through me first, and then there are still the others. You're safe here, Parker" he said as he moved her head up and put a tender kiss upon her lips.

Sean's head hurt like hell, again. Someone whacked something over his head, again. He was sure he had concussion, if not two. He could only hope that Eliot and the others would soon grow suspicious as to why he wasn't showing up or answering his phone. Luckily he still had his com on him. Those rookies didn't even search him properly. _When this is over _he thought to himself _you'll wish__ you had,__ Fuller._


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey there guys! So here is yet another chapter for you to enjoy. I still haven't found a new beta-reader yet so there is a chance that you might find some mistakes in here. They were not intended! :) _

_Have fun! - Foltro_

* * *

He was a mess. Struggling against his ties had only gotten him cuts on his wrists which would most certainly leave deep scars. His entire body felt sore and overused, his muscles ached from the lack of movement. It was not the first time he had to endure such an ordeal, he had been a prisoner before and back then his captors were far less humane when it came to his treatment. However, with every hour he spent in Fuller's makeshift prison, his will was weakening, while his fury grew by the second. The beast inside him, on which he had to keep a constant iron grasp, smelled an opportunity to break loose again. Being shackled only made matters worse, because when he would lose the battle against his darker side, said restrains would provide excellent fuel for his viscous frenzy.

He took in a deep breath to gather the last remaining amounts of self-control he had. No one, not even Greg Fuller, deserved to fall victim to him in that kind of way. Unfortunately, the constant delusional rambling of said man didn't exactly help him focus. It was a constant change between rambling about how he was able to hold the fates of thousands of people in his grasp and breakdowns about how he never wanted to hurt anyone, the money and power just had gotten to him.

Said constant changing left Sean a bit confused as to how to see Fuller. On the one hand, he pitied him, the lures of power were hard to resist. On the other hand however, he despised him. He could always have chosen differently, to do the right thing and not give into his primal cravings for power and control. Sean tried as hard as he could to shut his mind down to a point where he would no longer care about anything. That way it would be easier for him to keep his rage in check.

His vision started to get blurry again. He needed water, it felt to him like ages had passed since he last had something to drink. As his consciousness drifted away his last remaining thought called out to the only friend he ever had.

Eliot woke due to the ray of sunlight that shone right into his face. He let out a small groan and turned away from the disturbing light's source only to find out that something, or rather someone, was keeping him from turning over. Startled, he took in a small sharp breath. But once his mind recognized the scent the air around him carried, he relaxed. As the grogginess fell from his eyes he suddenly doubted that he was awake. There was no way that what he saw was real. And yet here she was. Parker. In his bed. Curled up against him with a more than peaceful smile on her beautiful face.

As his body relaxed he tried to take in every feature of her. The way the morning sun put a golden glimmer around her blonde hair, the mesmerizing rhythm of her breathing against his chest, the soft touch of her skin against his. He was sure he would never be able to forget this very moment and at the same time he wondered how they got there. Did Lady Luck smile at him and the rest of the team for once, or did karma decide to leave him alone for a change and give him a second chance? Whatever it was, Eliot owed it; big time.

A soft moan and a shift in the weight that was pressed against him took him from his pondering place back to reality. A reality in which Parker just woke up and looked at him with the most innocent and yet surprised look on her face. The initial shock however vanished just as quickly as it came and was replaced with yet another of her beautiful smiles. "Mornin' sweetheart" Eliot mumbled, his voice still affected by his grogginess. "Can we stay like this, just a little longer?" a more than content Parker answered, her hair falling into her hitter's face when she lifted her head to look at him. It was without a doubt _the _most relaxing sleep she ever had. She felt like she finally found the door that lead towards something resembling a normal life. She didn't mind that said door hat Eliot's physique. Not at all.

As Hardison got to Nate's apartment he followed his usual routine: Turn on the computers and run a quick system check to see if anyone was sticking their noses where they didn't belong, water the plants and stock the fridge with his favorite beverage. However the fact that he was the first one to arrive (except Nate of course) had him wondering. Usually Eliot was here cleaning the knives in the kitchen before he got there. And as of late Sean had always been around making coffee or crawling into the files the team had on Fuller. _Soldiers and their habits _the hacker thought to himself. Although Eliot's absence was easily explained by the fact the he had someone to take care of, Sean didn't have any reason not to be here.

"Nate, is Sean up there with you?" the young man called up the stairs, assuming Sean was taking a shower or was helping Nate clean up the mess the mastermind usually left in his wake. "What are you talking about? He isn't down there with you?" Nate called back, sounding slightly irritated. "No, man there is no one here but me. That a bad sign?" the hacker said jokingly. The worried look on Nate's face as he walked down the stairs however told him that there was indeed something wrong with Sean not being around. Getting the hint he rushed over to his computers and noticed that Sean's com still was transmitting although it was running out of power. "You better call the others, Nate. The com's signal is coming from the warehouse district and from what I can tell, it stayed there for the past day" the hacker almost yelled, adrenaline flooding his entire system.

"Where is that son of a bitch, Hardison?" Eliot scream-growled at the hacker. After he and Parker got Nate's call about Sean being missing and the very short conversation with said man, which was cancelled by Sean's com running out of power the usually calm hitter had been pacing the office. Not even Parker had been able to ease his mind. All they knew was that Eliot's friend was being held in a warehouse near the Boston docks. Before Hardison was able to fully locate the signal they lost the connection. "We can't just go in there guns blazing, Eliot" Sophie said "All we'd accomplish would be his and possibly our own demises".

"Well, we have to do something, right? Can't we just tip this Banana-person off?" Parker suggested, her voice reflecting the panic she felt. Eliot was on the edge of a breakdown, she hadn't seen him this angry in a very long time and yet she could do nothing to help him. Nate shook his head "When that psycho hears police sirens Sean is dead for sure. And we don't even know if Fuller is in the warehouse together with Sean. Moreover, we'd need a plausible reason to bring the good Captain Bonanno into this. And without any proof we'd have nothing to charge Fuller with, except being a giant asshole. Hardison, can you get a location on Fuller's phone?" the mastermind explained. "If we get him in the same room with Sean we might have enough to get him convicted."

"I sure hope Sean is still alive, when we get to him. Otherwise we're going to have a serious problem Nate" the hitter growled. The moment he said that however, he regretted it deeply. It wasn't Nate's fault that his friend was being held by a psychopath and if he were honest, he could never willingly hurt the mastermind. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lashed out at you, and it's not your fault. I'm sorry" Eliot added after seeing Parker turning completely pale after his outburst. He knew she hadn't even begun to think about the situation between them. But family and friends was his sore spot. "Okay, I got him or at least his phone anyway. Fuller seems to be down at by the warehouses right now. Do we go in?" The hacker finally broke the awkward silence that lingered in the room. Shortly after the that, McRory's was closed and Nate's apartment empty.

Sean had stopped counting how often he drifted in and out of consciousness for the past day. Someone had been kind enough to feed him and give him some water but the stale air of the warehouse he was currently in and his exhaustion began to take their toll on the former army sergeant. But he managed to have a very brief conversation with Eliot and that gave him hope. Hope that he could be done with all this once and for all. He surveyed the area of the warehouse he was being held in. It was quite large, even for warehouse standards but it looked like no one had been here for years. Dust was evident on the few crates he could see. It seemed the only light in this room was the rather small light bulb above him that was spending a ridiculously small amount of light which kept the rest of the warehouse in absolute darkness.

But the emptiness also made for amazing acoustics, at least how far Sean was concerned. The few objects in there barely managed to absorb any of the noise made from any location inside the warehouse. Which meant that Sean in general was able to eavesdrop on any conversation that occurred which, in turn, gave him some insight as to what was going on in the world outside of his rather limited radius of action. It appeared that the security system had been breached though no one had any idea who and how someone would be able to get access their network. Fuller's tech-goons seemed to think that they were untouchable. A diabolical smile forced its way onto Sean's face. If anyone was able to pull off a security breach like that it would be Hardison. Despite his young age that man was a true wizard when it came to computers and anything related to them.

Then another thought crossed his mind. If Hardison hacked into the warehouse's security system, that meant that Eliot and the other members of his bunch of modern day Robin Hoods weren't far. A wave of adrenaline, relief and excitement rushed through him. They found him!

Eliot's vision was a blur. He barely noticed anything but the target right in front of him. And even then he didn't take the time to fully notice anything beyond their feeble attempts at attacking him. The last time he behaved like this was when the team went after Moreau and he had to unleash the darkest side in him to get Nate and the Italian to safety. That "incident" had been the first time in a very long time that Eliot had used a gun, let alone killed someone. He still hadn't fully coped with what happened and apart from him and Nate no one knew. He figured he had to tell his team eventually if he completely wanted to put that behind him.

The occasional buzz of a Taser reminded him that he wasn't on his own in this fight. Parker had insisted that she'd come along to help Eliot and Sean. He didn't exactly understand why she was so eager to fight, she wasn't the fighting type. But he assumed it gave her some safety to do something instead of sitting around, waiting for him to carry Sean back to Lucille. That and it was good to have her at his side since Eliot encountered more goons than he anticipated.

Sean nervously shifted around in his rather uncomfortable position while he witnessed Eliot and Parker taking down guard after guard. The smarter ones seemed to notice that they were no match for a berserk Eliot and the cold and cruel accuracy of Parker's Taser. Soon all of those who could still walk had dispersed which left only Sean, Eliot and Parker.

"Are you okay?" a panting and slightly frightened Parker asked him while Eliot was cutting him loose. "I'll live. Have you seen Fuller on your way here" the former sergeant asked while he was rubbing his wrists. Two shaking heads told him all he needed to know. Sean turned around to scan the area behind him for any sign of the man he wanted to hurt most. Just as he came to hold a sudden and immense spike of pain rushed through his entire body. He felt a warm liquid oozing from his left shoulder. As he went down he realized that he had been shot, again.

Just as Sean stumbled to the ground and a pool of something red formed itself on his shirt, the last remaining compassionate fragments of Eliot Spencer vanished. He let his inner Beast take control. With a speed he didn't know he possessed he darted to where he figured the shot originated from. In his bloodthirsty haze he made out the silhouette of a shaking man. He didn't notice the whispered "please, no!" before said man's neck snapped with a strangely satisfying crack.

Under any other circumstances Eliot would have not been so merciful. As much as it pained him to admit it to himself, there was still some part of him that enjoyed inflicting pain. And if he found that his victim more than deserved that treatment, that disgusting satisfaction was multiplied by a very large factor. But with Sean bleeding onto the warehouse floor and the subconscious knowledge of Parker being around watching him he didn't have the time to torture Fuller.

Parker was completely frozen. She hadn't seen _this _much inhumanity in a very long time. Not only had Sean (whom she secretly considered to be the prodigal uncle of her rather dysfunctional family that had just returned into her life) been fatally wounded but also had Eliot transformed into something she didn't recognize, or like for that matter. The caring, sweet and usually collected man she loved was replaced by a frenzied tiger. His whole body seemed to be radiating off hatred and anger. She went over to where Sean was slowly bleeding out on the floor and tried her very best to keep him alive. "Please, you can't leave us, you can't leave me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she pressed her hands on his wound with all the pressure she could muster.

When Eliot kneeled down beside her she unwillingly flinched, she didn't want anything to do with that monster that had taken over Eliot's body. But as soon as he placed himself beside the dying Sean the real Eliot Spencer re-emerged. "C'mon stay with us old man. You've been shot before. Nothin' you can't handle." He tried his best to keep his former sergeant focused.

A sad smile made it's way onto Sean's face. Despite all the effort Parker and Eliot put into keeping him alive his survival instinct didn't kick in. "It's alright son. I'll see my girls again" he managed to whisper between gasping for air and coughing up blood. "My…. Wallet…Eliot" he whispered before his last breath left his body and he drifted away.

While Parker started to simultaneously punch Sean's now lifeless body and crying her very soul out, Eliot obeyed the last words his friend mumbled before he died. He reached inside Sean's pocket and took out his wallet. Besides a bit of money and various cards he found a folded and from the look of it rather old sheet of paper. He unfolded it and what he saw broke his heart in billions of pieces. In his hands he held a child's drawing with four people in it. Every person had their names written over their heads. From left to right it read: Mom, me, Dad and Uncle Eliot. And now even the hardened hitter allowed himself to cry for the first time in a very long time.

It had been two days since the incident at the warehouse. Ever since then a meaningful silence dominated the otherwise chatty and warm atmosphere in Nathan Ford's apartment. Parker hadn't left for one of her many safe houses, Hardison went off into his virtual reality, Sophie handled the media hype of Fuller's death and everything even remotely connecting the team to it. Nate had been hitting the bottle again (and this time no one blamed him for it) while Eliot had been awfully silent all this time. Now he could usually been found either on the roof staring into the sky or in his office manhandling his boxing sack.

Sean's body was kept in a morgue where Nate had a friend who made it possible for the team to keep the body until they had finished all the planning concerning his funeral. They figured he wanted to be buried next to his wife and daughter but due to resent budget cuts in the cemetery wasn't the most busy place right about now.

On the good side (if this mess had a good side to it) Barn pharmaceutics collapsed after the death of their CEO and the release of the experimental substances in their inhalers. It had been effectively crushed. What was left to figure out was how to deal with the emotional aftermath that had yet to begin within the team. Nate and Sophie agreed that it had the potential to rip everyone apart, which was most unsettling because of Eliot and Parker being in love with each other. That relationship was fragile enough as it was without any emotional nukes being dropped on them.


End file.
